Langley Raceway On The Beat

May 15, 1990|Compiled by AL PEARCE

3 LANGLEY DRIVERS KEEP SPORTSMANSHIP IDEALS ALIVE

At a time when beating and banging and spinning each other is the rule rather than the exception, drivers Paul Lubno, Jim Ewing and Dale Lemonds deserve applause for not stooping that low Saturday night.

Lubno could have turned winner John Gimbert in the final laps of the All-American feature, but settled for second. Lemonds took a hard-earned second instead of wrecking winner John Hicks late in the Grand Stock race, and third-place Ewing could have spun second-running Terry Carroll on the last lap of the Mini-Stock race.

The fact that each drove hard and clean and sportsmanlike proves it can be done.

BRIGHTER NIGHTS

Among the first things fans saw Saturday night was Langley's backstretch. They may have heard about it before, but now they can actually see it. True to his off-season promise, track operator Joe Baldacci recently added new lights on the four poles between turns two and three. Despite a few shadows in the turns, the track looks brighter than ever.

SECOND THOUGHTS

What does a track champion do when he's temporarily out of racing? If he's 1989 Grand Stock titleist Charlie Daniels, he stands around the pits and watches everybody else does what he wishes he could do, too. Daniels recently sold his Grand Stock in hopes of getting a competitive Late Model ride. Nothing's come his way yet and Daniels admits "I really miss not racing. Maybe I sold it too soon or maybe I'm meant to be an every-other-year-racer." He skipped the '88 season before winning lasty year's Grand Stock title.

DON'T GO AWAY MAD

With 23 other Late Model teams on hand, Richmond driver Butch Zervakis should have known better than try the old "I'll-load-up-and-go-home" threat. Zervakis was caught with illegal tires and told to get right before qualifying. Imagine the surprise when tech inspectors John Christiansbury and Butch Lassiter simply went about their business after a Zervakis crewman threatened to load up and leave. Later, Zervakis quietly bought new tires and raced.

GET RIGHT, BUBBA

Late Model 150 winner Bubba Adams also got caught with illegal tires. Apparently unhappy with the feel of his tires, Adams soaking them in a solvent that softens them and provides better short-term traction. Inspectors with a durometer caught Adams with eight too-soft tires and Zervakis with six. Two of Zervakis' were still wet from a recent soaking.

QUICK LAPS

Just how much is former track champion Phil Warren struggling? "So much that I'm not running Southside (near Richmond) on Friday nights until I get right over here," he said Saturday night... except for Thunderbolt points-leader Chris Crews, none of Saturday night's feature winners had won this year: Adams in Late Model, John Hicks in Grand Stock, John Gimbert in All-American and John Pisarski in Mini-Stock... Saturday night's five-race, 250-lap program took more than four hours, perhaps 30 minutes more than it should have. Baldacci and chief steward Johnny Norton need to find a way to shorten victory lane activities and hasten track repair and towing... the Thunderbolt division has grown from four cars on opening day to eight cars two weeks ago and - bolstered by the debuts of Rick Messick and Gene Mossow - to 10 teams Saturday night.